Lampert's focus has always been long term, Cramer said, and there have been bumps in the road along the way. But the numbers Lampert puts up when all is said and done have been "spectacular."

"Has it been a disaster this year? Unmitigated. It has been horrible," Cramer said during Stop Trading!. "But maybe an 18-month period is a better way to judge it than six months."

"I'm not abandoning ship," Cramer said. "The guy is too darn good."

Cramer also defended Lampert's purchase of a stake in Citigroup , which cost him a lot more per share than it did Abu Dhabi this week. "Did he make a mistake in Citigroup? Everybody did," Cramer said. "Everyone thought Chuck Prince would be fired. No one thought that franchise would be wrecked by one man."